Submarine-launched ballistic missiles have been in place for decades. In conventional submarine launch platforms, such as Trident submarines as deployed by the United States Navy, one missile per launch tube was the initial deployment. The missiles are conventionally ejected from the launch tubes using steam. This one-missile-per-tube approach severely restricts the number of missiles that may be carried.
It has been proposed to partition launch tubes, which are conventionally of circular cross-sectional shape, to enable two or even three missiles to be carried per tube. While increasing the number of missile payloads per submarine, partitioning a launch tube severely constrains the diameter of circular cross-section missiles that may be placed in the tube and, consequently, limits the propellant loading (volume) for such a missile, adversely affecting the range of the missile.
In the case of a partitioned missile launch tube, loading with circular cross-section missiles results in significant unused cross-sectional volume in a given launch tube.
Air-to-air missiles having a propulsion section of non-circular and, specifically, elliptical, transverse cross-section have been proposed. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,677,508. However, such missiles, as described, remain in their initial, elliptical shape during flight.
Consequently, it would be desirable to develop a missile configuration that would enable more efficient use of existing space in a missile launch tube in terms of accommodating greater propellant loading.